Mark at Beaufort

9 hours ago, John said:

I've managed to see supernova SN 2021 hiz this evening with my 12 inch dobsonian. I used Stellarium plus @davhei's very helpful sketch to nail the position.

My (inexperienced) estimate is that the SN is very close to the same brightness as a nearby magnitude 13 star. Once I was dark adapted the SN was reasonably easy to spot at 122x. At 199x I was just getting suggestions of the edge on host galaxy IC 3322 and it's orientation relative to the star field. I think IC 3322 lies at a distance of around 81 million light years ?

The somewhat brighter galaxy NGC 4365 is in the same field of view as the SN at 122x. 

Pleased to see this - I think it's my 12th SN ?

Thanks to @alanjgreen for the heads up

 

 

Well done John. Last night the weather forecast was showing rain or snow later so I decided to give it a miss. Having NGC 4365 in the same FOV is certainly going to help so if I get a clear spell I will attempt to see the SN.

Yes Paul it was a great watch. I added the double stack to get a better view of the surface as well.

3 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Proms spectacular right now - grabbing quick views between clouds but well worth getting the scope out.

Agreed Mark. The prom on the eastern side is lifting off. Quite a few proms plus some small filaments together with a plage area.

Well worth a look.

Thanks for the 'heads up' Alan - a great report. I noticed that there was a supernova but did not appreciate there were 3.

Thanks also to @davheifor his diagram and that he observed it using a 10" Dob.

It looks like we might have a clear spell tonight so I might have a go at SN2021hiz especially as its mag is 13.2

Thanks gain both.

1 hour ago, Andrew* said:

What a great report and a guid haul of targets!

It's rather remarkable - I have been chasing down a list practically identical to that in the past three nights. What references are you using to choose your targets? I've been mainly working with the Caldwell Catalogue but also been looking for some of O'Meara's Hidden Treasures.

I'm guessing you have an 8"? I've been working with my 12" dob in a dark site near Aberdeen so you've done well to catch some of those under light polluted skies.

Regarding the Whale's partner galaxy, "the Hockey Stick" (4656), I'm not surprised you didn't spot this from light polluted skies, but it should be distinctly visible under darker skies. It is quite a bit smaller and lower surface brightness than the Whale, but its nucleus is actually brighter. Worth persevering with.

Lovely report.

Andrew good to see you are firmly back in the saddle. Hope all is good with family. You never know we might see at Lucksall again.

Thanks Doug I have never heard of the Leo double double. That is a great diagram - I will give it ago. I want to test my new Nagler 3-6 mm zoom.

5 hours ago, fwm891 said:

About 60 years ago (in a galaxy far far away!) my Dad bought me a Charles Frank refractor which consisted of two cardboard tubes. At the front of the bigger tube was a single bi-convex objective lens (uncoated) at the other end of the smaller tube a lump of rubber with a tiny little eye lens molded into it.

It was advertised in one of the daily papers in a little ad in the classified section.

Everything viewed showed red and blue fringes but It got me hooked on this hobby.

Anyone else have the same beinnings?

That is interesting Francis. I looked through a friends cardboard Charles Frank refracting telescope in 1960 maybe 1961 and I was hooked. I bought this telescope and here it is mounted on my 6" wooden tube newtonian reflector dated 1972. Not sure what happened to it.

A great observing report and some great DSOs. Although I don't suffer too much from IP at the moment I still curtain myself off from the house and my neighbours. I have a washing line across the garden (7 foot off the ground) and I use black ground sheets which I bought from B&M stores. You can see this arrangements in Stargazine EP5 (it starts after 39minutes after Ian's talk on double stars) - 

39 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Great haul Mark. I was also lucky enough to get a wonderfully clear night last night and the neighbours played ball and a couple of street lights are out - heavenly! The H130P is a great little scope - it must easily have the best aperture to portability ratio around. Mine is a perfect match for my SkyProdigy mount - I may venture forth tonight if I can stand the arctic weather! 
 

I actually did a comparison of my H130P with my Tal 100RS (not an apo though) and I posted the results here: 

Although the Tal did well, I think if I had done more comparisons on faint fuzzies the 130P would have been the clear winner - I have had some stunning views of the Veil during the summer with this scope. 👍

Thanks Rob that is much appreciated. I enjoyed your post on the comparison between the Tal and the Heritage. I can't believe the quality of the Heritage for the money. 

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I’ve been surprised by the performance of both 130 and 150p Mark, so I suspect they may well outperform a 4” Apo on DSOs. I should be able to give this a go at some point if that would be of interest.

Thanks Stu I would like your opinion. I fancy buying another 4" apo but 90% of my time is viewing DSOs - so is it worth it?

I have just bought a lovely case to transport the 130p so it really has become my travel grab and go.

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

Amazing what can be seen with a little Heritage 130p under good skies and in the right hands! Great night Mark 👍👍

Thanks Stu - what I like to do is to compare this scope with a quality 4" APO on DSOs. Have you ever done this comparison? I know there is no comparison when observing Planets, Moon or doubles

Luke glad you are back into observing - a great report and objects. I still remember viewing through your 16" Dob and seeing the Horsehead and NGC 3912 in Leo at SGL8 (in 2013).

Great memories.

Wonderful sunny day yesterday so early evening I left out my Heritage 130P on its Pronto mount in the hope of seeing the Nova again. Just after 10pm I went outside to see a fantastic transparent sky. I leave a SvBony 10-30mm zoom permanently in the OTA so I moved the scope to pick up M52. Went straight to the cluster and identified the Nova. I estimate that it was still around mag 8 similar to 2 nights before.

The sky was so good I decided to view DSOs without reference to a star atlas and going just by memory. I added the Celestron Ultima DUO 17mm and 10mm EPs and started with M1. Really good view of this DSO. Moving from West to East starting with Auriga these are the objects I viewed. M38, M37, M36, M35, NGC 2158, M67, M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, M66, M65, NGC 3628, M104, NGC 4494, NGC 4565, M53, M3, M51, M63, NGC 4485, M101 and finally M13.

The Heritage 130P is a brilliant, small and lightweight OTA and works well on an Alt/Az mount. I cleaned the primary and secondary mirrors a week ago so this was a first test. I would add that all my neighbours lights were off and no light pollution from east to west. Great night.

Decided to use the Heritage 130p as a quick grab and go. Using a 9x50 finder scope went straight to M52. Used a SvBony 10 to 30 zoom and located the Nova. Estimated at around mag 8. Seemed the same as 2 nights ago.

Another clear spell and was able to use the 12" Dob. I wanted to explore some of the delights of Coma B but whilst waiting for it to rise a bit more I went looking around Ursa Major. Like the previous night I started with M97 (Owl Neb) - used the 13mm Ethos with the Castell O-III filter. Filter removed and took in M108, M109, M81, M82, M51 and M101 (used the 20mm Myriad).

Viewed M66, M65 and had a much better view of NGC 3628 than the previous night before moving over to Coma B

Whenever I start viewing the Coma B area I start with the cluster Melotte 111 which is great in my 80mm finderscope. 

I started from the eastern edge and observed NGC 4494, 4565 (Needle), 4559, 4278, 4283, 4274, 4414. I crossed the border into Canes Venatici to pick up two favourites - NGC 4631 (Whale) and 4656 (Hockey Stick). Moved down to NGC 4725, M64, M53 - I tried again to view NGC 5053 but failed. My notes show that I observe this Globular last April but it was beyond me last night. In the book by Ted Aranda - 3000 Deep-Sky Objects it states that 5053 is 'Probably the faintest globular in the sky'. Must have another go.

Finally, ended with M85, M100 (an absolute jewel) and M98.

Really enjoyable report Mark. Its great that we can have some deep sky observing - reminds me of last April.

Observed it last night for the first time. I estimate it at mag 8 comparing nearby stars.

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I’ve been wanting another one of these since I had to sell the last one quite a few years ago. Very pleased to pick up this mint example for a very fair price. It will be lovely in my Televue Genesis for widefield (~ 5 degree fov) and also the Tak (3.4 degrees)

Nice Stu - I have always fancied trying the Nagler 31mm in my various scopes.

I have not had much observing of deep sky objects recently. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day but the forecast was cloud from 9pm onwards. I have not had the opportunity to observe the Nova in Cassiopeia and I really wanted to have a go before it faded.

I set up the Skywatcher 150P in early evening and hoped for the best. Around 9.45pm I noticed that the sky was clear so decided to try and find the Nova. In the end it was easy using M52 as my starting point. Found the Nova and made an estimate of mag 8.

Sky still clear so had a look look around Ursa Major. Using a TeleVue Nebstar 2 I observed the Owl (M97). Removed the filter and observed M108 nearby. Down to Phecida and took in M109. Then M51, M101, M81 and M82.

Before I ended I observed NGC 2903, M66, M65 and just about NGC 3628.

Not a long session - just over an hour but nice to see the sky again. If it stays clear over the next week I will try and use the 12" Dob.

John what a brilliant list of objects. Viewing this area of sky reminds me of the excellent observing conditions we had at the start of the first lockdown last year.

That is a great collection of DSOs plus a few doubles. Its nights like this that keeps us going. 

Chris I really enjoyed the video. I think you made a good outline of the merits of both eyepieces. 

A great session and enjoyable read. I was hoping to have a session but high cloud ruined the situation.

Brilliant image thanks for sharing.

Just now, paulastro said:

Thank you Mark, that's really interesting.   It gives me more hope that the one I have on loan will not deteriorate further.  It's certainly better than some other PSTs Ive used over the years which have had an unblemished lens!

Out of interest Mark, what is the serial number of yours? The one I have is 94116, which may be about that age.

Hello Paul - my PST is 97155 and I remember getting it in the summer of 2005. I took it to Spain for the Annular Eclipse in October 2005. I also took it to the USA for the Venus Transit in 2012 and many observers remarked that the image was one of the best seen through a PST. That statement went downhill when a member of staff from NASA had a 6" Lunt with binoviewers + TelevVue EPs.